More doocotes, more doos.

Been away for a great weeks sailing and painting on the West Coast and had a brilliant time. We rented a lovely old farmhouse by the Loch for the second year running and were able to enjoy the outside as much as the inside due to the great weather in the second half of the week.

Back at the farm while I was away we had two new doos, DooDoo and DooVet making a total of 17! One more doo on eggs, Ivy I think and that will be the last lot for the summer. I have also acquired two new dovecotes. I it is a fairly long boring story but I bought one on EBay. It arrived but it was the wrong size so the guy who made it said he would sent a replacement. That never arrived but after a month it did plus a free feeding tray. When I asked how he was going to arrange to collect the first smaller dovecote he said to either keep it or bin it as it was not economical to collect it. So I now have two lovely shiny new cotes. Hopefully we will get them erected this week and then when it rains the doos will all have places to hide.

Off to ring the three newest babies later. While it may be sunny in the rest of the UK we are blanketed with a thick haar and look to remain so. You will be laughing on the other side of your faces next week when you cannot sleep because it is too hot, when lightning knocks out all your power and when you have to paint your house white and stay inside for fear of sudden death. I heard a spokesman for NHS 24 state "people WILL die next week" Duh! Do the nanny state Elf and Safety Police not know that many grown adults holiday in exactly such conditions!

Off to put another log on the fire.

Strange goings on?

We have renamed Stillard. He/she is now DULLARD following his attempts to get back into the nest with his mother. On two occasions now we have had to remove him from a different nest hole as his Mum who is on eggs again was getting pretty angry about the while affair, Dullard seems confused as to which nest box is his, he has been out and about with the brighter Wellard but on going back in gets confused and heads for the wrong nest hole. Wellard always makes it back to the right home. They will be flying free any day now but I am concerned about the possible repercussions should the eggs start hatching.

Yesterday we saw a large ugly crow going for the lower ( sanctuary) nest box and after it had gone shooed away by a pretty angry wee doo we saw that one of the latest eggs in the lower nest appeared to have hatched, this will be named Voo Doo, sibling to Doo Doo should it hatch too ( named by the Lucian arm of the family, Doo Doo is the Lucian word for sweetheart). To be honest from what I could see Voo Doo did not appear to be moving and it was very small and I don't know if the crow had managed to crack the egg open or if it was coincidence that the egg had hatched just prior to the attack. All efforts to get a look at the baby today have failed.

Later in the day I spotted the crow back again so took a shot at it but missed . It has not come back though so maybe a pellet whizzing past its head was enough to scare it away.

Doo count possible 15 if little Voo Doo has survived.

Ladies in Laburnum

Despite doves not liking perching in trees ( according to the books) mine love it and not only do they love it but they enjoy pecking at the deadly laburnum flowers too!

This morning Sam and I ringed the latest babies, Wellard and Stillard ( Pink and Blue Rings) who will probably be in the nest for a couple more weeks as they are still being fed and have not yet developed their full adult feathers, still some wispy yellow feather around the neck areas.

The eggs are due to hatch this weekend and thereafter if any more are laid I will replace them with china eggs which arrived this week. The new dove cote should eventually arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday and then we will have enough shelter for all the doves. Dove count still 14 with 2 due this week and 2 more a week or so later.

The eagle owl is a failure

New baby prior to being ringed ,Pixie Doo!

I have started feeding the doos on top of the well as I get a great view from the lounge window, Percy the pheasant thinks it is a wonderful idea and loves the fact that the very scary eagle owl is there to scare away predators while he eats lunch.

A few days ago we noticed some damage to the bark of some of the trees in the garden including the Beechgrove TV grafted apple. We have had deer in the garden and it looks like the damage to the Sandringham Pippin Graft on the family apple tree is terminal. The bark is stripped round the branch so I don't hold out much hope of recovery. It was shame as this year we had our first apple blossom on the 'family tree'.

We have also had some damage on the veg patch too, earlier I spotted two leverets in Tamaras orchard and when I went down to check the veg discovered they had also been in and helped themselves to several newly planted cabbage plants nibbled right down to the stalk.

This morning I noticed that some of the doves seemed to be quite irritated and were trying to peck at their breasts so suspecting mites or lice I have given them a bath of apple cider vinegar and garlic, just the thing for any self respecting dove. When I say I have given them a bath what I do is, put a shallow basin of water in the garden with said ingredients in and the doves cannot resist getting in and splashing around, the vinegar kills the mites and the doos end up smelling like a plate of chips minus mites.

Dove count 14 and two confirmed eggs.

Doos on top...of Eagle Owl

The eagle owl has been completely accepted by the doos now. I am not now convinced that it is going to scare away some marauding sparrowhawk!

Doo Number 14 has made an appearance, Young Stillard, sibling of Wellard ,was spotted yesterday when mum briefly left the nest.

The doves so far are:

Bully and Lily ( Originals from last May)

Ben and Jerry and Ivy ( Christmas Doos ) Thank you Janice and Jeff for the Doo Voucher.

Ist Babies: Fugly and Didgeree ( named By Nicci)

2nd Baby: Pipsqueak (sibling died in egg)

3rd Round: Moby As in The Great White Doooooooooo ( Murray) and Cocka...Doodle Doo (Stu)

4th Batch: Pixie and Dixie ( Named by Carmen after her t shirt, we think!)

5th lot: Wellard and Stillard ( Sam )

RIP: Hindoo, Huffy and Holly

The nesting frenzy appears to have stopped now so maybe a flock of 14 is a good size for our housing arrangements. They hate the new pink pigeon pellets by the way and I have discovered to my cost that the discarded pellets turn to pink sticky porridge when rained on, even the wood pigeons won't eat them.

Quick Update

Pixie and Dixie are now in the lower nest box and today I caught my first glimpse of Wellard. I have gone ahead and ordered a new dove cote and am hoping that Herb will build me a mass feeding table as the flock is now quite a size. The small feeding area is just too small. I bought some specialist pigeon pellets the other day, a lot cheaper than mixed grain, however, the doos are apparently experts at sifting through the bowl and discarding all the pellets on the ground. Maybe the mix was too rich in pellets, I tried the conversion on half and half but am going to have to be a bit cleverer than that if I want to substitute it again.

Brilliant weather today, have planted loads of young veg today and as rain is forecast it should all get nicely puddled in pretty soon.

Doo head count up to 13 today!

Hello Pixie! Doo Number 11.

Lovely day yesterday and the doves spent a lot of it lounging around on top of the well as you can see, undeterred by the Large fierce eagle owl watching over them.

This morning when I braved the torrents and wild winds to feed the doves I caught a glimpse of the newest addition to the flock, Pixie ( named by Carmen) She/he is in the lower cote hole and I think her mum is Ivy, one of the Christmas doos. I will attempt to ring her in a few days if ever mum or dad leave her alone long enough for me to get in, I got a peck this morning while trying to check if Pixie was a singleton or not. As her eyes are fully open and she has a few feathers I think she is about 4 or 5 days old.

We are planning on taking the homing cage surround down over the next few days and am ordering a second dove cote for my ever expanding flock. Herb declined to build a new house. Once I get up to about 20 I will be removing newly laid eggs and replacing them with china ones to deter any further babies for the time being.